UNICEF Venture Fund 2026 for frontier climate tech for children’s health (US$100,000 in equity-free funding) – Opportunities For Africans

Application Deadline: 17 May 2026 

Applications are actually open for the 2026 UNICEF Venture Fund. UNICEF Venture Fund calls on startups growing frontier tech options for kids on the intersection of climate and health to hitch its Climate Ventures cohort. The UNICEF Venture Fund invests in open-source frontier expertise options from rising markets. For this name for purposes, we’re in search of proposals from climate-focused startups growing open-source frontier expertise options which have the potential to create radical change for kids. 

The Challenge

• Climate shocks are intensifying current vulnerabilities. Despite being among the many most affected, kids stay underrepresented in the design of climate applied sciences supposed to deal with these challenges. 

The Need

• By prioritizing improvements which are regionally adaptable, data-driven and child-centred, Climate Ventures will assist shift climate expertise towards equitable impression for this and coming generations. At its core is a dedication to strengthen the resilience of techniques that safeguard children’s wellbeing. 

Requirements

• The Venture Fund champions variety, inclusion and frontier tech innovation by backing early- and growth-stage startups leveraging AI, machine studying, blockchain and different frontier applied sciences, particularly these which are able to deploy in low-resource or emergency settings.

• Area 1: Strategic planning 
• Area 2: Early warning, early motion 
• Area 3: Healthcare readiness 
• Area 4: Point-of-care help

Eligibility standards:
UNICEF is seeking to present investment-style funding to early-stage expertise startups. Only entities that fulfill these necessary necessities might be thought-about eligible:

• Registered as a non-public firm on the time of the Innovation Fund award (projected: 3 months from submission of EOI)
• A non-public firm registered in a UNICEF programme nation
• Working on open supply expertise options (or keen to be open supply) beneath the next licenses or their equal:
  (i) for software program, a GNU General Public license, MIT or BSD,
  (ii) for {hardware}, a CERN, MIT or TAPR open license and
  (iii) for design or content material, a CC-BY license
• An current prototype of the open supply answer with promising outcomes from preliminary pilots
• Solution has the potential to positively impression the lives of probably the most susceptible kids
• Generating publicly uncovered real-time knowledge that’s measurable
• UNICEF’s Innovation Principles

Benefits

• The UNICEF Venture Fund is providing as much as US$100,000 in equity-free funding for early-stage and ready-to-deploy applied sciences together with synthetic intelligence (AI), machine studying and blockchain. 

For More Information:

Visit the Official Webpage of the UNICEF Venture Fund